Wall Street spent Monday trying to forget last week. The Dow added 1,104 points, according to Kiplinger, and the Nasdaq rose almost 3%. Yet the stock that anchors the whole AI trade went the other way, and that is the more useful signal for anyone raising money.
Nvidia fell 4.3% to $178.67. Reuters traced the drop to an internal investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort, which the agency said raised questions about his future at the company. Alphabet announced two new AI chips the same day, aimed squarely at Nvidia’s lead. The chipmaker reports earnings on 17 November.
The rebound follows the worst session since April 2025. On 5 November, the S&P 500 fell 4.4%, with AI data-centre stocks leading, The Washington Post reported. Tokyo and Seoul each lost about 6% the next day, per the Associated Press. Morgan Stanley and UBS have since called the rout overdone. Their argument, per Reuters, is that extreme regulation of data centres under a Democrat-controlled Congress is unlikely. Not everyone agrees. “The AI correction in equities could have much further to run,” wrote Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics.
Anthropic’s IPO is the real test
The company has made its IPO filing public and plans a Nasdaq listing under the ticker ANT. Prospective buyers are now discussing a valuation of $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, Bloomberg reported, down from $1.4 trillion to $1.5 trillion before the crash. In early October, investors had floated as much as $2 trillion. The Wall Street Journal reported that one investor put fair value nearer $1 trillion and another wondered whether the offering might slip, since institutions “burned in the recent selloff” may balk at fresh AI risk. Anthropic declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Reports say formal marketing starts this week, with a listing targeted before Thanksgiving. Treat those dates as fluid until the company confirms them.
The stakes reach well past one balance sheet. Private AI valuations lean on the idea that a public exit will pay at least as much. If the sector’s biggest listing prices 25% to 40% below earlier talk, every Series C and D deck gets harder to defend.
Deals continue, but the field is narrow
Money has not stopped. StrictlyVC’s weekly roundup noted that defence-AI company Shield AI is raising $1 billion in new funding at a $28.8 billion valuation, and security startup Cyera is reportedly seeking about $800 million at $20 billion. Smaller specialists are still closing rounds too: Numica, which automates accounting work, raised $21.4 million.
The pattern is selective. Crunchbase data, reported by Benzinga, show global venture funding near $680 billion through Q3, with about a third of Q3 dollars going to 27 companies raising $1 billion or more. Capital is favouring proven revenue and a defined niche. Generic AI wrappers have the hardest road ahead.
India: a hedge, not a shelter
Indian indices behaved differently from Wall Street at first. The Nifty IT index rose 2.4% on 5 November, before the US plunge, and Infosys, TCS and Wipro gained up to 3% on 6 November. The Sensex then ended lower after Sunday’s Muhurat session, snapping a seven-day winning streak, per Upstox. Infrastructure-linked names such as TD Power, HFCL and Sterlite Tech fell as much as 15% during the sell-off.
For founders, the sharper number comes from Tracxn: $19.2 billion raised across 1,840 rounds in India this year, against $18.5 billion across 3,130 rounds a year earlier. Dollars are up 3.7%, and deal count is down about 41%. Fewer, larger cheques already favour startups with traction.
The Gulf needs Nvidia’s good news
Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Abu Dhabi’s G42 have each signalled that they want outside capital, and Humain has begun preparing a possible listing. Both depend on Nvidia chips. A shaky 17 November print would make that capital raise harder to price.
Two dates now matter: Anthropic’s final pricing, expected within days, and Nvidia’s results. A weak outcome on either will show up in the next term sheet, in Bengaluru and Riyadh as much as San Francisco.
